ATLANTA (Feb. 13, 2025) — The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association announced today a partnership with beauty brand Dove that will make the 2025 WBCA Convention’s biggest day of programming more accessible to scholastic and non-scholastic youth coaches. Dove also will lead a special panel discussion focused on raising awareness of body image concerns that cause girls to drop out of sports.
The 2025 WBCA Convention will be held April 3-6 in Tampa, Florida, in conjunction with the 2025 NCAA Women’s Final Four.
Dove will be the presenting sponsor of the WBCA’s inaugural “High School Coach Drive-In Day” promotion which will enable coaches of scholastic and non-scholastic youth girls’ basketball teams in proximity to Tampa to become members of the WBCA and attend Saturday, April 5, convention programming at a reduced fee. The panel discussion will feature two WBCA-member coaches and highlight Dove’s ongoing mission to keep girls in sports through its Body Confident Sport program as well as the critical role coaches in scholastic and non-scholastic youth sports play in boosting confidence in girls.
“We are proud to partner with Dove in presenting its Body Confident Sport program to our scholastic and youth coach members. This program will teach them how to help and support their young athletes through a challenging time in their lives and, hopefully, inspire them to remain participants in the sport or sports they love,” said WBCA Executive Director Danielle Donehew.
According to research commissioned by Dove and Nike, nearly half of girls drop out of sports by age 14 due to low body confidence. Dove co-developed Body Confident Sport — a first-of-its-kind program — to build body confidence in 11-17-year-old girls through a scientifically proven set of coaching tools.
Body Confident Sport is a self-guided, web-based tool designed to provide coaches with the knowledge and skills to create positive body image environments. The program aims to #KeepHerConfident and ensure sports can be a space where kids can thrive playing the sports they love. Body Confident Sport has undergone rigorous scientific testing and been proven to positively impact both coaches and athletes. Topics and activities are informed by the latest research in body image, sports participation, mental health and well-being. Programs are also reviewed and validated by coaches and athletes to ensure their relevance and effectiveness.
“Coaches play a critical role in building self-esteem in a young athlete’s life, and Dove is thrilled to be partnering with the WBCA to help these inspiring coaches support further girls on and off the field so they can thrive,” said Marcela Melero, Chief Growth Officer, Dove Personal Care North America.
Learn more and access tools to help #KeepHerConfident in sports at Dove.com/confidentsports or on social @Dove.
About Dove
Dove started its life in 1957 in the US, with the launch of the Beauty Bar and its patented blend of mild cleansers and ¼ moisturizing cream. Dove’s heritage is rooted in care – proof, not promises grew Dove from a Beauty Bar into one of the world’s most beloved beauty brands.
Real women have always been our inspiration, and since the beginning, Dove has been wholly committed to providing superior care to all, and to championing real representations of beauty in our advertising, communications, and campaigns. Dove believes that beauty is for everyone, and the Dove mission is to ensure a positive experience with beauty is universally accessible to all.
For more than 65 years, Dove has been committed to broadening narrow definitions of beauty in the work we do. This includes the ‘Dove Real Beauty Pledge,’ and commitment to:
- Portray women as they are in real life with honesty, diversity, and respect. We feature women of different ages, sizes, ethnicities, hair color, type, and style.
- Represent individuals with zero digital distortion, with all images approved by the women they feature. This includes never using AI to alter or distort real people in our marketing, advertising or campaigns.
- Help young people build body confidence and self-esteem through the Dove Self-Esteem Project, the biggest provider of self-esteem education in the world with a goal to educate 250 million young people by 2030.
About the WBCA
The Women’s Basketball Coaches Association is the professional association for coaches of women’s and girls’ basketball at all levels of competition. Founded in 1981, the WBCA offers educational resources that coaches need to help make themselves better leaders, teachers and mentors to their players; provides opportunities for coaches to connect with peers in the profession; serves as the unifying voice of coaches to those organizations that control the game; and celebrates those coaches, players and other individuals who excel each year and contribute to the advancement of the sport. Visit WBCA.org for more details about the association.
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